ANZAC Area

ANZAC Area (Command)
South Pacific Lines of Communication to Australia 1942
Active	27 January – 22 April 1942
Country	Australia  New Zealand  United States
Allegiance	Allies of World War II
Branch	Navy
Type	Multinational naval air and sea support
Role	Defense of Australia and Commonwealth territories
Engagements	World War II Battle for Australia New Guinea Campaign
Commanders
Notable commanders	Herbert Fairfax Leary

The ANZAC Area, also called the ANZAC Command, was a short-lived (29 January – 18 April 1942) naval military command for Allied forces defending the northeast approaches to Australia including the Fiji Islands, New Hebrides, and New Caledonia during the early stages of the Pacific Campaign of World War II.^[1] The command was created on 27 January 1942. United States Navy Vice Admiral Herbert Fairfax Leary commanded the force. The force co-existed with the Allied ABDA command which was charged with defending Allied colonial territories in Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific from Imperial Japanese aggression.

The ANZAC Area command was established by the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff on 29 January 1942 in response to an Australian government request for a command dedicated solely to the protection of Australia after the fall of Singapore and Rabaul during which ABDA Command was focused on events in Java and the Malay barrier to the west and United States fleet assets were focused on defense of Hawaii.^[1][2]